Inside

The Intel Core i5-12400 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti combination ranks 937th out of 1671 tested combos in Inside, placing it in the middle of the database. This is a surprisingly modest position for hardware that delivers very high frame rates across all resolutions and settings, but the ranking reflects the sheer volume of higher-end configurations tested. The data shows that this pairing is far more capable than its rank suggests, producing playable results even at 4K Ultra.

How This Combo Ranks

With a rank of 937 out of 1671 combos, this system sits just past the midpoint of all tested configurations in Inside. This places it in the 56th percentile of all combos, meaning roughly 44% of tested systems perform worse. The ranking is heavily influenced by the game's age and the prevalence of newer, more powerful GPUs in the database, but for practical gameplay, this combo is firmly in "excellent" territory.

The GTX 1080 Ti holds an average benchmark score of 19402, placing it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are remarkably close: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 scores 19405 (0% delta), the AMD Radeon Pro 560X scores 19426 (-0.1% delta), and the NVIDIA Tesla K40m scores 19519 (-0.6% delta). The only competitor that beats it meaningfully is the NVIDIA TITAN Xp at 19184 (1.1% delta). This clustering shows the GTX 1080 Ti is performing right at its expected level—no surprises, but no free performance either.

On the CPU side, the Core i5-12400 has an average benchmark score of 19850, placing it in the 77th percentile of all CPUs. Its rivals are tightly grouped: the Intel Core i7-9700 scores 19831 (0.1% delta), the Intel Core i7-8700 scores 19894 (-0.2% delta), and the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX scores 19928 (-0.4% delta). The Core i5-11600K trails slightly at 19771 (0.4% delta). This means the i5-12400 is effectively tied with its closest competitors, offering no meaningful advantage or disadvantage in raw compute.

Settings Recommendations

The measured FPS data makes the optimal settings clear: for the best balance of visual quality and performance, the High preset is the sweet spot. At 1080p, High delivers 156 FPS, which is more than enough for smooth gameplay in a puzzle platformer. At 1440p, High still manages 115.1 FPS, keeping the experience fluid. Even at 4K, High holds 71.9 FPS, which is perfectly playable.

Ultra settings are not worth the cost. The jump from High to Ultra at 1080p only drops FPS from 156 to 151.9, but at 1440p the difference grows to 115.1 vs 106.6, and at 4K it falls to 69.4—noticeably below the 72 FPS threshold that High maintains. The visual gains from Ultra in a game like Inside are minimal, so the performance sacrifice is unjustified.

Low settings are unnecessary for this hardware. The GTX 1080 Ti pushes 315.2 FPS at 1080p Low and 227.9 FPS at 1440p Low, which exceeds any display's refresh rate. Medium settings at 1080p (251.8 FPS) and 1440p (184.8 FPS) are also overkill. The recommendation is simple: use High for the best experience, and only drop to Medium if you need to ensure absolute stability on a high-refresh 4K display.

FAQ

*Q: Can this combo handle 4K gaming in Inside?*

A: Yes. The data shows 71.9 FPS at 4K High and 69.4 FPS at 4K Ultra. Both are above the 60 FPS standard for smooth play, making 4K viable.

Q: How much performance is gained by dropping from High to Low settings?

A: The gains are substantial. At 1080p, Low (315.2 FPS) is roughly double High (156 FPS). At 1440p, Low (227.9 FPS) is nearly double High (115.1 FPS). At 4K, Low (144.1 FPS) is exactly double High (71.9 FPS).

Q: What is the difference between Medium and High at 1440p?

A: Medium delivers 184.8 FPS while High delivers 115.1 FPS, a difference of 69.7 FPS. This is a significant gap, but both are well above playable thresholds, so the choice depends on visual preference.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The data suggests the GPU is dominant. At 1080p Low, the system hits 315.2 FPS, indicating the CPU can feed frames rapidly. The FPS drops consistently as resolution increases, which is a GPU-bound pattern.

Q: How does this combo compare to other systems in the database?

A: It ranks 937th out of 1671 combos. While this sounds mid-pack, the actual frame rates are high across all settings, meaning the rank is skewed by newer hardware rather than any deficiency in this pairing.

Q: What is the maximum FPS achievable with this hardware?

A: The highest measured result is 315.2 FPS at 1080p Low settings. This is the ceiling in the dataset and likely exceeds any display's refresh rate.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1080p, the GTX 1080 Ti paired with the i5-12400 produces excellent results across all settings. Low settings yield 315.2 FPS, Medium drops to 251.8 FPS, High delivers 156 FPS, and Ultra manages 151.9 FPS. The gap between High and Ultra is only 4.1 FPS, which is negligible, while the gap from Low to High is 159.2 FPS—a massive difference that shows how scalable the game is.

Moving to 1440p, the same pattern holds but with lower absolute numbers. Low produces 227.9 FPS, Medium gives 184.8 FPS, High drops to 115.1 FPS, and Ultra falls to 106.6 FPS. The High-to-Ultra delta remains small at 8.5 FPS, while the Low-to-High delta is 112.8 FPS. This resolution is the sweet spot for high refresh rates, as even Ultra clears 100 FPS.

At 4K, the results are still playable but tighter. Low yields 144.1 FPS, Medium drops to 115.8 FPS, High delivers 71.9 FPS, and Ultra falls to 69.4 FPS. The Low-to-High delta is 72.2 FPS, but the High-to-Ultra delta is only 2.5 FPS. This indicates that Ultra at 4K is essentially the same as High, so there is no reason to choose it.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the primary driver of these results. Its 11 GB of GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus provides 484.4 GB/s of bandwidth, which is more than sufficient for Inside's art style. The GPU's 3584 shading units and 88 ROPs deliver 139.2 GPixel/s of pixel rate and 354.4 GTexel/s of texture rate, ensuring that the game's simple geometry and lighting are processed without bottlenecking.

Clock speeds are modest by modern standards—1481 MHz base and 1582 MHz boost—but the Pascal architecture's efficiency compensates. The FP32 throughput of 11.34 TFLOPS is the key metric here, and it explains why the GPU can maintain 71.9 FPS at 4K High. The GPU's benchmark scores reinforce this: a PassMark G3D score of 18600 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2231 place it in the 61st percentile of all GPUs, which aligns with its measured in-game performance.

The GTX 1080 Ti's nearest rival, the GTX 780, is statistically identical (0% delta), but the 1080 Ti is clearly better suited to this game due to its higher memory capacity and bandwidth. The TITAN Xp is only 1.1% ahead, which is within run-to-run variance. This GPU is not the bottleneck in Inside; it provides headroom at every resolution, as evidenced by the high frame rates even at 4K.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i5-12400 plays a supporting role in Inside, and the data shows it is more than adequate. With 6 cores and 12 threads, it has ample parallel processing power for the game's physics and logic. The base clock of 2.50 GHz and boost clock of 4.40 GHz provide strong single-thread performance, which is critical for game engines that are often single-threaded.

The CPU's benchmark results demonstrate its capability. A Cinebench R23 multicore score of 15935 and single-core score of 2249 indicate strong overall throughput. The PassMark multithread score of 18747 and single-thread score of 3456 confirm that the i5-12400 can handle both lightly and heavily threaded workloads. In the context of Inside, the CPU is not a limiting factor—the 315.2 FPS result at 1080p Low proves that it can feed the GPU far more frames than the GPU can render.

Comparing to rivals, the i5-12400 is essentially tied with the i7-9700 (0.1% delta) and i7-8700 (-0.2% delta), meaning there is no meaningful performance difference for this game. The CPU's 18 MB of shared L3 cache and 1.25 MB per-core L2 cache provide sufficient data locality for the game's asset streaming. In short, the CPU is a silent partner that never holds the system back in Inside.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K reveals a GPU-bound system. At High settings, the system delivers 156 FPS at 1080p, 115.1 FPS at 1440p, and 71.9 FPS at 4K. The drop from 1080p to 1440p is 40.9 FPS (a 26.2% reduction), while the drop from 1440p to 4K is 43.2 FPS (a 37.5% reduction). This pattern—where higher resolutions cause proportionally larger FPS losses—is characteristic of a GPU-limited scenario.

The Low settings show an even steeper curve: 315.2 FPS at 1080p, 227.9 FPS at 1440p, and 144.1 FPS at 4K. The reduction from 1080p to 1440p is 87.3 FPS (27.7%), and from 1440p to 4K is 83.8 FPS (36.8%). This consistency across settings confirms that the GPU is the bottleneck, as the CPU's capability remains constant while pixel count increases.

The data indicates that the i5-12400 is not the limiting component. If the CPU were the constraint, the FPS would remain flat across resolutions at Low settings, but it does not. The 315.2 FPS at 1080p Low shows the CPU can handle the game's logic at extremely high frame rates, but the GPU must work harder as resolution increases, causing the observed drops. This is a textbook GPU-bound workload.